


You can't kill an idea

by MamzelleHermy



Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: Spoilers for Episode 10
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-04
Updated: 2019-12-04
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:14:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21674305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MamzelleHermy/pseuds/MamzelleHermy
Summary: [SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 10]Small exploration of Dani's thoughts during the episode.(yes I'm bad at both tagging and summarizing, sorry)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 48





	You can't kill an idea

**Author's Note:**

> Hiii,
> 
> So, yeah, that thing happened where I'm supposed to work on a ton of other things but I found myself jumping in a new obsession that resulted in me writing a fanfiction. Guess my soul is sold now.
> 
> And also, it's been really long since I last wrote anything so it might be bad. But I appreciate every kind of comments.

_ You can’t kill an idea. _

That’s the thought that kept echoing through Dani’s head. She couldn’t remember where she read or heard the expression but, right now, it was the most fitting thing she had ever heard.

Because that was happening to her.

Despite everything. Despite her natural disposition to trust in her initial gut instincts. Despite her want to trust and defend Malcolm. She could help but feel the little seed of doubt to grow in her mind since Special Agent Swanson showed her the tape.

Malcolm had been talking to Paul Lazare. That was obvious. Which proved he did indeed lie. 

And she couldn’t say that Malcolm wasn’t reckless or destructive.

So Colette’s suggestion of Malcolm’s involvement could only take hold in her mind. And really,  _ you can’t kill an idea. _

But, even if you can’t kill it, you can still doubt it. 

So that was why she was hidden in a corner and observed him. Malcolm Bright. She watched him, sitting in one of the smallest  cubicles of the precinct, surrounded by heavy archive boxes. She wondered if he had chosen this place or if it was Gil’s attempt to hide him away from the FBI scrutiny. Judging by the cornered look in Malcolm’s eyes, the latter seemed far more plausible.

In fact, cornered was not the right term, Dani thought, downright afraid would be more like it. A fact only confirmed by the very visible tremors of his hands that he tried to hide by clutching them in one another so hard his knuckles were white. Unfortunately for him, it wasn’t working all that well. More than his hands, she could see his whole body trembling, even from where she stood.

_ Would someone as bad as what the FBI was trying to make her believe he was look like that? Well on his way to a  _ _ full blown _ _ panic attack?  _

She’d seem him have more than one and they weren’t pretty.

_ Did the FBI know about them?  _ She mused. Surely, he wouldn’t have been much better at hiding them then that he was now?  _ Or was he? _

Dani bit her lips.  So many questions, so many doubts. And no answers.

She was debating going back to the conference room when she saw Malcolm jerk, destabilizing the box that he was currently studying and sending it crashing to the ground with a loud sound.

Immediately he jumped up, looking flustered and annoyed and still so bloody panicky that Dani just had to go talk to him.

From up close he looked even worse and Dani felt guilt spread through her for listening to his former colleague and doubting him.

“How’s your day going then?” She asked, trying to alleviate the situation even if it was quite clear Malcolm was ashamed and anxious and more mentally exhausted than she has ever seen.

She was surprised that he gave her what sounded like an honest, complete, answer and not one of his usual  _ everything-is-fine _ bullshit. She was heartbroken when he described himself as broken and unfixable.

Because, yes, some parts of him were definitely broken, shattered by a psychopath father and God knows what else, but she didn’t think he couldn’t’ be fixed. Everyone, well, maybe not quite everyone, but at least the team he worked with now, knew he was a good guy.  A good guy willing to go above and beyond if it meant saving one person.

She was prepared to tell him that when he cursed again.

“Great, and now I’m late for family dinner.”

He sounded at his ropes’ end and Dani almost wanted to tell him to skip it but he was already gathering his stuff with still shaking hands.

“Well, Merry Christmas then.”

He let out a disabused laugh that sounded more like he was on the verge of crying. Dani’s heart squeezed painfully in her chest.

“Yeah.”

And with that, she watched him leave, stomach twisting with sudden anxiety.

_ Someone truly bad wouldn’t act like this, wouldn’t they?  _ She asked herself again, FBI words still resonating in her mind.  _ You can’t trust Malcolm Bright. _

She sighed. The only way anyone would know the truth was by catching the elusive Junkyard Killer. So she’ll just have to do this. 

She returned to work.

And later, when she saw Gil’s panicking eyes looking at her through glasses and across offices, she just knew that she made a big mistaken mistrusting Malcolm, because obviously something happened and she wasn’t sure she would be able to apologize to him.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> And I'm anxiously waiting for your comments!


End file.
